NEWS

It was back to reality this weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, as riding the dream wave that was VIR finally crashed and settled back down again.

With that said, it was still shaping up to be quite the busy one, as the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge was also joined by Lamborghini Super Trofeo for the fifth time this year and the final time on U.S. soil.

I’ve really enjoyed these double header events, but what I failed to recall when making my final preparations was the fact that this CTSC race would be our second four-hour endurance event of the season.

This was great news to me; more testing time, longer runs, and the opportunity for Cameron Cassels and me to achieve a result that matched the opening four hour race event of the year in Daytona.

This event was also much more crucial now since this was the last opportunity for Cam and me to keep ourselves in the GS title fight, as we had a less than stellar summer full of poor luck.

The plan for the entire weekend involved me qualifying and starting the four-hour race, Cameron in for the middle stint, and then I would get back in at the end.

Judging by the amount of time behind the safety car at Daytona this year, we figured that at least a few laps under yellow were possible, but nothing we could really count on.

Our strategy revolved mostly around long runs and green flag stops, and that’s the direction we went with the car during testing and official practice.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a track renown for the legendary corkscrew and scenery, but one thing often overlooked is the nature of the racing surface itself.

It’s dirty, fairly bumpy, but above all else, it is rough. Rough on cars and so rough on tires that after only a few laps on new tires it’s about as grippy as driving in the snow. It’s an extraordinarily tough place to predict conditions at any given time of day since the track reacts so much to even the slightest change in ambient temperature.

Engineers have their work cut out for them just listening to whiney drivers, and drivers have their work cut out for them just keeping the damn car on the road!

It’s all very challenging, in a good way, but it does force you to sacrifice performance of the car in some areas in order to have that speed in others. In our case at Bodymotion Racing, we were solely focused on longevity over the long haul.

Finishing P6 in qualifying was a tough pill to swallow but at the end of the day it was necessary to stay focused on what we had worked towards in practice. As long as we had long periods of green flag running, we were good.

My first stint in the car went exactly to plan as we were able to move up a few positions on the start and find ourselves in a comfortable gap, away from any drama.

I was a bit worried because we flat-out just did not have the speed to keep up with the leaders or defend from any attack from behind. My hope at this point was that the track would come to us as conditions deteriorated throughout the race.

Luckily, it did to an extent, but being ultra assertive in traffic was the only way that we would be able to make up ground while also holding other cars at bay.

The final stint of the race was plagued by time behind the safety car and that’s absolutely what we did not need.

Constantly bunching the field back up made for some real chaos at each restart and the term “cautions breed cautions” could not have been more true, especially with lapped traffic in between the leaders on the restarts.

Fortunately for us, the final sprint to the finish was uninterrupted and we were able to finish P2 and grab our first podium since COTA in May… a long time coming.

Normally I hate finishing second more than anything else because we all know that as second place, you’re the first loser. This time I wasn’t so PO’ed.

This was really more than the maximum possible result for the Bodymotion Racing team and it’s exactly what we needed at such a crucial moment in the GS championship race.

We did not have nearly the outright speed of our direct competition but what we had was a killer strategy, great pit stops, and just an overall smart race that allowed us to take advantage of mistakes made by others.

Cameron and I now head to Road Atlanta sixteen points out of the championship, making it a must-win situation for us, but anything is possible around that track.

In between all of the madness that came with GS, I was glad to be back with the Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing team this weekend in Lamborghini Super Trofeo competition.

Facing similar challenges in Super Trofeo as we did with the GS car, it was crucial to make the car perform with minimal degradation at the end of a flat out 50 minute sprint race.

We achieved our fifth pole position of the year for Race 1 and had an almost perfect race going, leading every lap aside from the only one that truly matters.

Brake failure for Riccardo going into Turn 1 on the final lap was a real heartbreaking moment after such a good race up to that point. It is what it is.

Race 2 was my turn to finish and this time we only were able to bring home a P2. Riccardo, the Prestige Performance/WTR team, and I are only two points away from locking up the Super Trofeo North America Pro Championship, which is most important.

All focus is now on getting prepped for the Super Trofeo North America and World final event in Imola, Italy at the end of November.

As always, a very big thank you to all who made this possible; Cameron, Riccardo, Bodymotion Racing, Trim-Tex, Prestige Performance, Lamborghini Paramus, and Wayne Taylor Racing.

Petit Le Mans is only a week away, so it’s an incredibly hectic turn around for teams and drivers. I can’t wait to get there, not only to compete for and hopefully finish the GS championship on top, but also because I have an awesome opportunity to run the 20th Anniversary Motul Petit Le Mans.

“We’re thrilled to have Trent join us for Petit Le Mans,” said Team Owner Paul Miller, “He’s shown tremendous skill in the support series, and strong promise in his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut last month. He’ll be a positive addition to our team, and together with Bryan and Madison, we’ll be strong contenders for the top spot on the podium.”

The nearly 22 year old New Jersey native began his racing career at the age of eight in go-karts, winning his first national karting championship in 2008. The following year, he followed in the footsteps of legends, competing in the Skip Barber Racing School Southern Series, where he stayed though until the end of the 2011 season. As a MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver, he joined the USF2000 series in the Mazda Road to Indy, earning two podium finishes and finishing fifth in the final championship standings. In 2013, he transitioned to touring cars, and a year later joined IMSA in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. He clinched the 2014 championship for Fall-Line Motorsports, and made his international sports car debut in 2015 at the 24 Hours of Zolder on a BMW Motorsport Junior team. In 2016, the young American was crowned the Blancpain Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Pro-Am champion with Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Hindman’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race came earlier this year at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the Prototype Challenge class. His IMSA GTD debut came last month when he was called last minute to step in to drive a Mercedes AMG at VIR International Raceway.

“These last few weeks have seen the fulfillment of a lot of long time goals of mine,” said Hindman. “There’s nothing I can do but thank Mr. Miller and the entire Paul Miller Racing team for giving me one hell of an opportunity here to run Petit Le Mans. I’m excited for this not only because it’s an awesome chance to run a world renowned endurance race, but also the possibility to work with a team that has been so strong for the entire 2017 Weathertech Championship and comes into the final race of the season with a great shot at bringing home a victory.

“I am very much looking forward to working with both Bryan and Madison as I’ve known both of these guys for quite some time now and have seen the successes they have shared together, and I certainly hope to fit into that dynamic the best I possibly can. Thank you Mr. Miller, Bryan, and Madison, along with Chris Ward and Giorgio Sanna for making this possible!”

Petit Le Mans will take place at Road Atlanta, October 4-7. The ten hour endurance event will decide the champions of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Season.

The name “Dr. Jacques Dallaire” has become synonymous with motor racing paddocks all across North America, or really the world for that matter.

If you know Dr. Dallaire or have ever attended any of his seminars, one of the opening lines of his presentation that you probably heard was “A x B = Results”, with the “B factors” consisting of those things that are not in your control. All very interesting stuff.

Unfortunately for Cameron Cassels and me, this past weekend at Road America was almost entirely comprised of those “B factors.”

The weather prediction called for rain this weekend, but the sheer amount of it was something not seen very often.

Our entire test day on Thursday was a complete wash out. We didn’t even get on track once due to the terrible conditions, but all teams still made the effort to unload and set up in the pouring rain.

If being a mechanic in a professional race series wasn’t difficult enough, setting up an awning in the cold rain just to be slightly more protected from the elements did not make things any easier. These people are hardcore dedicated to what they do, I have huge respect for what they put up with.

Friday turned out to be better… marginally. The rain was constant and extremely heavy at times.

I think I can count on one hand the amount of laps Cameron and I completed on the whole day, and half of those were used just trying to bed brakes!

Our thoughts were to take as little risk as possible and wait for Saturday morning’s short practice/qualifying to dial in our Porsche GT4, as constant running in the rain will eventually break a race car in some way or another. Not necessary to take that risk before race day.

Since generally at Bodymotion Racing we do our homework before each event, we usually arrive with a car that is pretty well sorted right from the start. Since everybody was in the same boat (no pun intended) in terms of limited track time and terrible weather conditions, confidence was high going into qualifying and our two hour race Saturday evening.

With roughly an hour to go in the race, Cameron brought the car in after a good fight between him and few other drivers for P6 and P7.

As per usual, the Bodymotion team gave us a super quick pit stop while I got behind the wheel, and we were on our way.

My total stint was comprised of about 30-40 seconds of racing. I got from pit lane to Turn 5 and that was it, the full course caution came out and then the red flag followed.

The storm that was the ultimate cause of the race stoppage was pretty strong but blew through the area quickly. There was some talk to me from our pit box that we could potentially see the race restart. All I was looking for was a 25-30 minute shootout with all cars on wet tires, fighting for the win. This is exactly my idea of a good time.

As we know, that did not happen and the race was abandoned. Not sure of the exact reason why we could not get it going again, but it is what it is.

This is about the most significant “B factor” that I have ever encountered just purely because of the poor timing and the fact that the decision to stop the race has now costed Cameron Cassels, the Bodymotion team, and me our championship lead, where we now find ourselves trailing by four points going into the final three races.

We have battled through a lot of horrible luck this year and we will continue to do so. VIR, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and Road Atlanta are three solid racetracks for the Cayman GT4, so we will take every risk necessary in order to retake, what I feel, is rightfully ours.

I am in a position where I have absolutely zero right to complain about a lack of seat time this weekend as Road America was the first time in just over a month where I got to climb back behind the wheel of the Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.

With a similar testing and practice scenario to what we had encountered with the GS car, we showed up to pre-grid for qualifying totally blind as to what the track would be like in the dry conditions.

Fortunately, it appeared that we had rolled off the truck well, as I was able to qualify on the pole for race one, and Riccardo was on the outside of the front row for Race 2.

After some minor adjustments to the car following our qualifying effort, we were able to pull out a clean sweep of both Super Trofeo races this weekend, as well as take the Pro championship lead.

A dream weekend in Super Trofeo but not so ideal for Bodymotion Racing in the Continental Tire Challenge is just the way this sport works.

A big thank you to Cam, Trim-Tex, and all our our Bodymotion Racing crew members for powering through this one and maintaining focus.

I also have to thank the Prestige Performance and Wayne Taylor Racing team for giving Riccardo and me one hell of a race car this weekend.

VIR will have a similar schedule between the CTSC and Super Trofeo, just hopefully with some more testing time and a clear forecast. See you all in two weeks.

Through an interesting turn of events, Trent Hindman found himself racing in three different series and three different race cars this past weekend at VIRginia International Raceway. Looking back, Hindman shares his mindset, the results, and how the weekend became a dream come true.

4

Hindman went to VIR expecting to compete in three races- two Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America sprint races, as well as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Biscuitville Grand Prix.

That plan changed early Friday morning.

Immediately following the first Continental Tire Challenge practice, and while heading to debrief with his Prestige Performance team for Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Hindman received a text from Travis Houge. Houge is the general team manager for Wayne Taylor Racing, which provides support to Prestige Performance, and the message said he needed to meet with Hindman immediately.

“I met up with Travis in the paddock and he just told me to start walking with him,” Hindman said. “I was a little bit surprised like, ‘Okay, where are we going? What are we doing?’”

Houge and Hindman walked over to Riley Motorsports’ transporter in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship paddock and on the way, Houge explained that Ben Keating, full-time co-driver of the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Team-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Jeroen Bleekemolen, may have to return home to Texas. Keating’s home and numerous car dealerships were in the path of Hurricane Harvey.

“They asked me if I would be able to manage three championships in a weekend and I immediately said ‘Yes’ without even thinking about it,” Hindman said. “Once I was walking away, it started hitting me like, ‘How the hell am I going to effectively do a good job for everybody and maintain the championship positions that everybody is in?’ To have a situation like this, with a total unknown factor, to essentially not screw it up, that was definitely a little bit of pressure.”

A few hours later, Keating was officially headed home to Texas and the 21-year-old was tabbed to take his place in the WeatherTech Championship Michelin GT Challenge on Sunday.

“Obviously, I was thrilled I was getting the opportunity, but it’s also unfortunate the circumstance for Ben and everybody based in southeastern Texas,” Hindman said. “I think I speak for many people that everybody outside of that area is certainly thinking of those affected by the storm.”

3

Managing three championships in three days is a feat by itself, but what Hindman did – landing on the podium three times in four races – was remarkable.

Hindman scored both poles ahead of the two Lamborghini Super Trofeo races in the No. 1 Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2 with co-driver Riccardo Agostini and took the first victory on Saturday in the Pro class, while overcoming a punctured tire to place second in Sunday morning’s race.

“Riccardo and I and the whole Prestige Performance Wayne Taylor Racing team were carrying a lot of momentum from a very good weekend at Road America, so we wanted to carry that into VIR obviously,” said Hindman. “We learned a lot about our car at Road America and we finally felt – at least from the perspective of myself, our engineer David Wagner and Riccardo – we’re all clicking now and making some really good progress and all on the same page. The car has been getting better and better. We’re just keeping our heads down for the most part.”

It was in the Biscuitville Grand Prix, however, that Hindman faced his biggest challenge of the weekend. Sharing the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 with Cameron Cassels, the team entered the weekend for the first time not in the championship lead of the Grand Sport (GS) class.

Cassels qualified the car in ninth and the team ran in the top 10 before a full-course caution came out immediately after the team’s pit stop and driver change. Radio issues kept the team from communicating with Hindman about their strategy, and the car wound up a lap down. The team finished 12th and currently sits 20 points out of the GS championship lead that they once held two races ago.

“It’s out of anybody’s control really,” Hindman said. “For whatever reason, it wasn’t in the Big Man’s plans for us to have a good result and we’ll move on. It’d really take a lot of bad luck on (our competitors’) part and us winning the next two races to get ourselves back in position to win the championship. It feels like we’ve been kicked in the gut.”

For his last race of the weekend, the Michelin GT Challenge, Hindman was prepared to make his first GT Daytona (GTD) start in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Practice time allowed Hindman to meet the team, adjust to the new car and rehearse driver changes ahead of his second career WeatherTech Championship start.

Bleekemolen qualified the car fourth and the team steadily ran up front to bring home a third-place result. That podium was the best finish for the No. 33 team since winning the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown at Circuit of The Americas in May.

“They had a very structured, very organized program and chain of command to where a driver like me could just come in, be briefed, be given a couple handbooks on the 27 different buttons and controls on the center console alone,” Hindman explained. “It was just phenomenal, almost surreal in a sense that everything was happening so quick and something like this had presented itself last minute.”

2

The three podium finishes weren’t the only thing Hindman had to celebrate once the weekend was over. His performances had helped solidify championship leads in two different series.

In Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Hindman and Agostini entered VIR with a six-point lead. After the weekend, the Prestige Performance team expanded that margin to 11 points heading to the final two races of 2017.

In the incredibly diverse GTD class, Hindman and Bleekemolen’s third-place finish boosted Mercedes-AMG back into the top spot of the manufacturer championship standings. The German manufacturer leads eight other manufacturers, with the closest being Ferrari just one point behind with two races remaining.

“I think I was literally working off coffee for three days to keep myself going, but that’s what a guy like me lives for,” Hindman said. “That’s what we want to be doing. I’m just lucky that Ben, Bill (Riley), Wayne and Travis were able to come together and recommend me to fill the role. I hope I executed that in a fashion which they found acceptable.”

1

VIR was one dream weekend for the New Jersey native.

“For me to sit here and say ‘Oh, it was so tough running back and forth…’” Hindman joked. “Yeah, it’s so tough running back and forth between a Lamborghini, a Porsche and a Mercedes-AMG. Life is good. Life is really good. It’s something that a guy like me dreams about doing.”

While making travel arrangements weeks in advance before an IMSA event, I always plan on staying for the main show of the weekend, the WeatherTech Championship, in order to kiss babies, shake hands, and make hay while the sun is still shining.

At the end of the day “out of sight, out of mind” could not be more true in the world of motorsport.

If you’re a driver like me looking to take the next step forward in their career, it is necessary to attend and find a way to be actively involved in those big races even though you may not be competing in them.

The dream of every driver, on the outside looking in, is to one day get that last-second call up to drive in the WeatherTech Championship, and I was fortunate enough for that dream to become a reality this weekend at VIR.

First thing’s first though; this was already shaping up to be a busy weekend for me between the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

Being within reach of winning both championships made for a bit more added pressure, especially after falling to second position in the GS championship standings following a very bizarre race at Road America two weeks ago.

I cannot say that I focus on one championship over the other, really it’s a game where one must try and find a way to balance the two.

I’m lucky in the sense that I have the tremendous opportunity to work with great teams and co-drivers across the board. They’re really the ones who make it possible for me to plug-in and go.

Generally Thursday’s promoter test days (when we have the opportunity to run them) are the busiest, and to me, the most vital.

Showing up to official practice and qualifying with an already strong car underneath you is everything. Starting on the back-foot rarely ends well for anybody, and when championships are on the line, desperation ensues.

At Bodymotion Racing, we had a strong start to our Thursday afternoon testing but it soon turned to head scratching, as we knew we had a pretty critical suspension issue with our car, leaving Cameron with almost no laps.

Friday was really the day that my whole weekend got “flipped-turned upside down” in the words of Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff… all for the good though.

The Bodymotion Racing crew had figured out what had happened to our car and got it resolved quickly before our mid-morning CTSC official Practice 1. Their efforts were not in vain, as we quickly set a good string of laps that put us ahead of our competitors for the remainder of the session.

The main job now was to get Cam behind the wheel and acclimated to a track that he had been looking forward to driving since the end of our race weekend last year.

Super Trofeo, on the other hand, was looking very strong as our engineer David Wagener, Riccardo, and myself were really firing on all cylinders this weekend. We made some significant changes to our car during testing on Thursday and the gamble had paid off. Now all focus could be set on Riccardo learning the very difficult VIR circuit.

Somewhere in between all of this, I had missed a few texts from our Wayne Taylor Racing team manager, Travis Houge, urging me to contact him or Wayne immediately.

My mind immediately shifted to “Oh God, they’re getting rid of me” mode when suddenly I met up with Travis at the WTR tent and he promptly told me to start walking. He gave me a quick brief on why he and Wayne needed to get in touch with me, and to be honest I really couldn’t believe it.

Next thing I know, I find myself in front of a panel made up of Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, and Bill Riley… almost felt like an episode of Shark Tank!

This was really the first time I had ever met and spoken to any of them. I was shocked to hear of Ben’s situation and potential decision to leave the track, although understandable, because Hurricane Harvey had not yet made landfall in Texas.

Basically, if Ben were to head home in anticipation of the impending storm, he needed a replacement and I was recommended to be fit for the job. I was floored, but hope I didn’t show it too much!

About an hour later I was notified by Bill that Ben had unfortunately headed home and I was to be at the Riley Motorsports trailer by 3:30 p.m. to prepare and be briefed on the general controls of the car for a 4 p.m. practice session. Game on.

There honestly was not any time to think about how to manage my focus when running in three separate, somewhat high pressure situations, which I think helped in hindsight.

My first laps in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 went off without a hitch and again, I was blessed to be given the opportunity to work with such a great team of people at Riley Motorsports.

It was clear that my job this weekend was to not set lap records. Rather, it was to keep the car on the road, pointed straight, and give it to Jeroen without a scratch. If we went fast in the process, then awesome, but that was not the main focus.

Things seemed to calm down on Saturday and Sunday, as schedules were a bit more spaced out now. Saturday morning started off strong with another WeatherTech practice session, followed by Super Trofeo qualifying, where Riccardo and I were able to pull off pole position for both races! Awesome effort by the Prestige Performance team.

Later on that afternoon was arguably the most important race of the weekend, our two-hour long CTSC race, where Bodymotion Racing, Cam, and I would have the opportunity to get ourselves back up in the lead of the GS championship.

Cam had qualified P9 on Friday evening but he, as always, made up positions during his stint and handed me the car in a fantastic position. Really I believe it was his best race-drive yet.

This is where things started deteriorating, as we had a developing communication problem between the pit-box and the No. 12 car towards the end of Cam’s stint.

That issue continued to develop to the point where under the first full course yellow of the race, being unaware of our track position and having no communication with our pit-box, we had failed to take advantage of the lap down wave-by procedure and essentially went one lap down without even knowing it.

That was it, for the rest of the race we tried playing catch up but it was to no avail.

We would finish a dismal P12 after having such high hopes. We are now 20 points out of the championship lead with two races remaining. It is still possible and we will still sure as hell try to win it, but it will be a tall order.

With no time to dwell on the continued run of horrid luck we have seen with the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman, it was straight back to the Super Trofeo race on Saturday evening and Race Two on Sunday morning.

Again, the Prestige Performance/WTR team, Riccardo, and myself had very high hopes following our qualifying performance. Race 1 was off to a good start, but a pit lane speeding penalty had earned us a drive-through penalty just before our pit stop and driver change.

We had a sizable gap prior to pitting, so taking the drive through and pushing like hell for 20 minutes made for a more exciting situation than I believe any of us really wanted. I had caught up to the leaders with roughly two laps remaining, was informed of a situation where the leading car had a penalty, and was wisely advised to think about the championship.

That’s exactly what we did, and following post race time penalties, we were awarded the overall and Pro class win.

Race 2 was my turn to start and we got a solid initial start, but then heading down to turn three it was clear that I had a left rear tire starting to go down.

Finally the cornering load of turn three shredded the thing apart. That was tough, since now we had no chance at a win and had to still push hard and try to minimize the damage done to our Pro class championship lead.

Riccardo and I battled hard for 50 minutes and ended up P2 in class, P6 overall. Not bad for almost going a full lap down after lap one.

Again, no time to dwell on what could have been, so it was full steam ahead on how to properly execute what Bill Riley, Ben, and Jeroen needed me to do behind the wheel of the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GTD class of the WeatherTech Championship.

Jeroen would be starting a solid P4, I would hop in for a full fuel stint right in the middle, and then Jeroen would bring the thing home for the final stint. Pretty straightforward.

Physically, I was fine. Mentally, I was exhausted. This was a weekend where I had really experienced the highs and lows of motorsport all within 36 hours, and I was running off pure adrenaline and coffee, lots and lots of coffee.

But again, no time to worry about it now as it was show time for arguably the best opportunity of my entire racing career. I wanted to and needed to deliver for Jeroen, for Bill, but most importantly, for Ben Keating.

The two hour and 40-minute race came and went just like that. My stint wasn’t flawless by any means, but I felt that I had completed my job to the best of my abilities and had done exactly what I was asked to do.

When Jeroen crossed the line in P3 at the end, I damn near cried; I could not believe it. We were on the podium in my first ever IMSA Weathertech GTD race but most importantly, I was relieved that it had all went according to plan.

This has seriously been the most incredible last few days of the 21 years I have spent on planet Earth.

Maybe it goes to show how much I really don’t do outside of the motorsport world? I don’t know. All I do know is that I have some of the greatest groups of people I have ever met supporting me and my dream.